
- Asimov’s Foundation series
- Herbert’s Dune series
- Larry Niven’s Known Space stories
- Heinlein’s Stranger from a Strange Land
- Alfred Bester’s Demolished Man and Tiger Tiger
- Clarke’s Childhood’s End
I’m sure there are more that I forgot to mention.
It really did seem to be a pervasive expectation that the mind was the next frontier for seemingly magical scientific advancements. But it never panned out with actual results, and mental powers faded from hard sci-fi stories.
On the topic of early cyberpunk, I personally feel Alfred Bester's Tiger! Tiger! aka The Stars My Destination, from _1957_, hits all the key notes -- which I won't go into for sake of spoilers. But if you like cyberpunk or science fiction in general: go read that book!
Anathem by Neal Stephenson is superb and I recommend you carve out some time to really let it soak in. Anything by Neal is phenomenal, but Anathem stands out for me.
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson is my favorite sci-fi book I've read in a while. Generation ships, AI, and a fascinating narrative perspective. I'm a sucker for realistic/hard scifi with well-researched technical explanations, and KSR is among the best.
Right now I'm reading Atwood's Madd Adam triology - it's shaping up to be some of the best dystopien sf I've read in a long while.
And for something a bit different I stumbled across in a thrift shop: "Canal Dreams" by Ian Banks.
Oh, and Gibson's latest: "The Peripheral".
Second the recommendedation for Richard Morgan, especially "Thirteen / Black Man" and "Broken Angels" (I accidentally started with this, book two of a triology, but actually think it stands well.on its own. The lack of exposition in the first chapter turns it in to a bit of a mystery book (who is this main character anyway?)).
Finally, a must-read (preferably the sci-fi masterworks edition with a foreword by Gibson): Alfred Bester, "The Stars My Destination / Tiger, Tiger".
